Establishing continuity within your company is one of the most important steps that you can take to ensure success. Having constant turnover and a revolving door of employees keeps the entire team from truly settling into a rhythm. It prevents your customer base from enjoying the consistency that keeps them coming back. How do you ensure that you retain the employees that are integral to your success? Investing in their personal and professional development is one way you can not only keep valued team members but also make them even more valuable.

What is Professional Development?

Knowing the difference between employee training programs and professional development can help you take the steps needed to ensure that your team members always feel like they are being built up for future success. Business leaders must realize that training is designed to fill a gap and help employees learn what to or not to do in certain situations; professional development is meant to build the team member and the company for future success. Studies have indicated that businesses that do not invest in career building development programs for their staff see higher turnover rates than those that do.

Why Professional Development Matters

The goal of every person at any level of business is to remain relevant. For employees, professional development helps them stay relevant within the organization, and for the organization offering professional development keeps it relevant within their field. Spend some time researching the best professional development certifications in your field and begin implementing these programs.

How to Implement Professional Development

Some employees will probably be very responsive to your professional development initiative, while some will be reluctant. As a leader, it’s your job to incentivize your team to want to pursue more in-depth knowledge and more skills in their area of expertise. Reach out to coaching and development companies and find out what they offer and how much they charge for their services. This allows you to create a plan and a budget for continued professional development. Prepare the information you receive from the company you choose and identify ways to get your team members excited about participating.